Thursday, August 5, 2010

It's very rare these days for all of us to be sitting together in the dining room for dinner. Last night we actually did; well, between clearing the table, getting drinks for the kids, opening a bottle of wine... I think I sat down for about a total of two minutes when Mrs. Forest looks up at the corner of the dining room and says "What the $&*! is that!?" My first thought, before even looking up, was "Probably a big spider." Well, it could have been a big spider or at least a big furry tarantula. Nope, it was a bat!

Yup, it was just hanging upside down on the wall. So dinner ended early and we decided to retire (aka run) to the family room. Actually, at first I thought "Wow, that's pretty kool," but quickly it went to "How the F am I going to get it out of the house!?" I knew I needed a net but knew the kids' butterfly net wouldn't do. I called a neighbor that I knew would have a pool net who just happens to be an ex police dectective, they get bat removal training - right? All kidding aside, as I had assumed, he did have some experience with removing bats from a house.

He arrived within minutes with his pool net which was more shallow than I had hoped. His response was that it wasn't a butterfly net and that all we needed was to trap it and kill it. I wasn't into that idea, not because I'm Buddhist, but because I couldn't see how we were going to kill it without squashing it and getting blood and guts all over the place. So I convinced him that I could trap it with the pool net and then go underneath with the butterfly net, sandwich the bat between nets and get it out of the house.

I imagined the thing taking off as I approached but it didn't. I imagined it escaping when trying the sandwich move but it didn't. I imagined it pooping on the floor, it did. Other than that it went pretty smooth, though there were times when I was going to scream like a little girl!

My neighbor was the one to get it out and he took it to the street to let it free. It seemed to have trouble with trying to fly away and it ended up crawling away instead. I don't know if it was in shock or sick, I'm pretty sure we didn't hurt it. Well, hopefully it's happier now and flying around eating mosquitos. I know I am, happier, that is!

Of course I thought of pictures after the fact, maybe next time. Just kidding Mrs. Forest.

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Our House - Forest Hall

Circa 1865, our house is a Second Empire Victorian. We are only the 3rd owners and purchased the house from a sweet 80 yr old women who had lived here for over 50 years. Much of the original interior details are still intact (just painted pistachio green!). My wife and I, together with our 3 young saplings, hope to live here for a very long time. We hope to do what we can to restore the house to it's original glory. Let the fun begin!